Scars
by Le Confidant
Summary: Scars remind those who brandish them that they truly had challenged life.


A/N: This oneshot is set some years after the end of the manga. I hope you enjoy it!

I want to give special thanks to TaIoRaFoReVeR523 for being the beta of this story! Lots of love to you!

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Ed got out the bed and went to the bathroom in order to freshen up while Winry laid in bed still riding on the last vestiges of what had been an intense love-making session. Winry thought of joining Ed in the shower but decided against it as she was too tired to get up anyway.

xxoOoxx

Ed just sported a towel around his waist when he got out of the shower. Winry couldn't stop herself from staring at his still toned body with the same enthusiasm as the first time that she saw him completely naked. She thought of him as the most beautiful man she had ever seen; perfect, just like the sculptures displayed in Central's National Museum. Ed was her Adonis and she felt like the luckiest woman in Amestris for it but Ed didn't share her thoughts. He usually didn't like Winry staring at his body as he was too self-conscious of the scars that marred his body.

Winry knew very well of his scar complex since it clearly reared its ugly head the first time they were intimate. He felt ashamed of his scars, always thinking that Winry find them disgusting. She remembered that it was on their first night together when she gently cusped his face and told him that scars were a beautiful thing. She believed that scars remind those who brandish them that they truly had challenged life.

xxoOoxx

"Ed you're beautiful to me", she said tenderly.

Ed smiled and sat next to her. Winry moved herself to a sitting position so she could nudge herself closer to him.

"They had been hurting a lot today Winry", he said while rubbing his biggest scar, the one that almost took over the entire right side of his chest.

"Oh Ed- do you want me to get you some pain medication?", she said to him while gently tucking his long bangs behind his ear.

"Naw. It's alright Winry", he said with a sad ring attached to his words. It was during times like this that he felt vulnerable and exposed.

"That scar is special Ed", she reminded him. "It tells the tale of a little boy who bravely chose to sacrifice his own life in order to save his little brother's soul from oblivion", she said while gently caressing the tender scar with her fingertips.

Ed flinched a bit with the initial touch but felt more relaxed after a few minutes of her ministrations. "I was very scared Winry", he admitted while remembering the events of that horrific night when he, along with his brother, tried to bring back their mom from the dead. "My arrogance as an alchemist almost made me loose Al in our sorry attempt to play God."

"-but everything went well in the end", she pointed out. "You both managed to amend past mistakes and got your bodies back. You both even helped save the entire country- and you saved me from a hellish future that wanted my soul to become part of a red stone."

Winry moved her hand across Ed's chest and touched the severely disfigured scar that he carried around the left side of his body, just below the ribcage. "Now this scar tells me about your courage against adversity."

Ed's eyes were now downcast as he remembered the nightmare that was Baschool. His childish beliefs of life and death almost cost him his own life. "I still remember like it was yesterday, the terror I felt when my life was slipping away", he put his left hand on top of hers and held it tight. "I fought to stay alive because I didn't want to make you cry again, because I wanted to live the rest of my life by your side."

"-and you have Ed", she shared with him the warmest smile that she could muster. "You've kept your promise and here we are today, together, with our lovely children as a testament of your triumph."

Winry moved in closer and kissed him softly on the cheek.

Ed put his arm around her shoulder and held her close with a warm embrace. "You know there is one scar that even to this day had affected me the most."

Winry looked at him with curiosity.

"This one right here Winry", he said while touching the low transverse caesarean scar that she sported on her lower abdomen. "That scar tells me about the time that we almost lost you."

Winry remained silent as it was the first time she heard Ed openly talk about the emergency C-section she underwent two years before. Baby Sarah's tiny body was already suffering a lot of stress from being in a breech position. The doctor had to perform an emergency C-section to save both mother and child. Everything was going well until Winry started haemorrhaging. She had lost a substantial amount of blood and had gone into shock. Thankfully the doctor and the nurse staff were able to stop the haemorrhage before it was too late; thus both mother and daughter survived the frightening incident.

Winry's demeanor slightly darkened remembering such a traumatic event. She touched her long scar then looked into Ed's eyes. "You saved me Ed. You donated the blood I needed in order to survive."

She lovingly held on to him. "Scars are definitely a beautiful thing because they tell the world that oneself have truly lived."


End file.
